‘ICICI Bank doesn’t need to raise funds’

New Delhi: Flush with funds to meet business growth for the current year, ICICI Bank Ltd chief executive officer and managing director K.V. Kamath said the bank does not need to raise money from the primary market, expected to revive late in the year.

Hemant Mishra / Mint

Kamath said the market for stock offerings would likely bounce back late this year. A 50% decline in the Bombay Stock Exchange’s key sensitive index last year caused investors to flee and prompted many companies to stall share sales.

As far as ICICI Bank is concerned, Kamath said, “We have no need for capital in the foreseeable future...we have a capital adequacy of 15% or so. That is much much higher than the regulatory requirement.”

In 2007, the bank raised Rs20,000 crore from a follow-on public offer.

At least 36 companies that had been planning to raise about Rs70,000 crore through share sales stalled the offerings in 2008 because of adverse conditions, primary market tracking firm Prime Database said.